Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Late Piano Works
Piotr Anderszewski (piano)
rec. 2024/25, National Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw, Poland
Warner Classics 2173298806 [49]
Brahms’s late piano works are groups of short pieces in four opus numbers. There are slightly too many of them to fit on a single disc, so most pianists record some of the groups. Piotr Anderszewski’s approach here is quite different. He has selected pieces from across all the late works, and played them in an order of his choice (not the order of publication, as you can see from the listing below).
I was initially not happy about this decision, as I tend to prefer recordings to keep to the published groupings. However, I have to admit straightaway that I was bowled over by this recital. I shall start with general considerations. Anderszewski’s playing is super subtle and refined; every note is carefully considered and placed. The texture of his work is surprisingly transparent. I think of Brahms’s piano writing as tending towards the massive, with chunky chords, elaborate inner parts and polyrhythms. Anderszewski makes him almost a different composer: again and again, I noted the delicacy of the touch, often very quiet. The elaborate accompanying figures and inner parts are properly subdued, so the melodies can sing out. He can be forceful on occasion, but only a few of the pieces he has chosen require this.
Op.119 No.1 opens with bell-like sounds, and the middle section is very gentle. Op.119 No.3 is playful; the fast chords are played leggiero as required, with a lot of air let in. There are similar qualities in the other playful piece, Op.116 No.5. Op.118 No.1 is one of the passionate pieces, as is Op.119 No.4, which comes later on. The latter, which is Brahms’s last piano work, goes through a range of moods, starting with a very Schumannesque march. Anderszewski holds this together very nicely, varying his touch and tone with each episode.
Next come the four middle pieces from the Op.116 set. Anderszewski brings out the tragic quality in No.2; the Chopinesque first episode is light and sparkling. No.3 is another passionate number, and here I noted the fine shaping of the complex writing. In the gentle No. 4, he cherishes the falling figure and, later does not let the elaborate left hand figuration dominate the chordal right hand. No.5 is strange, with a jerky rhythm offset by a lyrical middle section, in a mood of wry humour.
Anderszewski plays two pieces of the Op.117 set, though not successively and in reverse order. No.3 is the most straightforward of all these pieces. The main section is sombre, and the middle section is a fine tracery which moves between the hands while accompanying figures go above and below it. No.2 is wistful, with a grave middle section and a wonderfully delicate return to the main subject. Anderszewski realizes it as gently as falling snow. He ends the recital with Op.118 No.6. It begins quietly but becomes rich and complex, with forceful octave passages and massive chords. He resists the temptation to treat it as a virtuoso vehicle, and provides a most musical, well-shaped performance.
The recording is immaculate and the booklet helpful. There would have been room for more music, but this is clearly a carefully thought-out programme. Such is the intensity of Anderszewski’s playing that one does not feel the need for anything more. This is an outstanding recital.
Stephen Barber
Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
Contents
Klavierstücke Op.119 (1893)
No. 1, Intermezzo in B Minor
No. 3, Intermezzo in C Major
Klavierstücke Op.118 (1893)
No. 1, Intermezzo in A Minor
No. 2, Intermezzo in A Major
Fantasies Op.116 (1892)
No. 2, Intermezzo in A Minor
No. 3, Capriccio in G Minor
No. 4, Intermezzo in E Major
No. 5, Intermezzo in E Minor
Intermezzi Op.117 (1892)
No. 3 in C sharp Minor
Klavierstücke Op.119 (1893)
No. 4 Rhapsodie in E flat Major
Intermezzi Op.117 (1892)
No. 2 in B flat minor
Klavierstücke Op.118 (1893)
No. 6 in E flat minor
